US aircraft comes under missile attack in Afghanistan

Two US military transport planes came under missile fire on Tuesday but were not hit in the first such incident in Afghanistan even as Afghan fighters backed by American and British special forces searched cave to cave at Tora Bora hills hunting for Osama bin Laden and his remaining cornered Al-Qaeda fighters. US says no missiles fired at planes

Two US military transport planes came under missile fire on Tuesday but were not hit in the first such incident in Afghanistan even as Afghan fighters backed by American and British special forces searched cave to cave at Tora Bora hills hunting for Osama bin Laden and his remaining cornered Al-Qaeda fighters. The attack on the two C-130 transport planes in separate incidents came early on Tuesday in the desert area of south of Kandahar with an American official saying that the missiles may have been shoulder fired stingers. It was the first time US marine aircraft had been fired at since the marines set up a base in southern Afghanistan on November 23, according to a marine spokesman Capt David Romley. The transport planes which have been flying regularly into Kandahar`s airport dropping off supplies to marines securing the area came under fire at 3 am in separate attacks 30 minutes apart. Fighting continued at Tora Bora, where the last of the Al-Qaeda forces are believed to be holed up, even as American officials admitted that they have lost all trace of bin Laden. “We don`t know where bin Laden is, and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar,” said Pentagon spokesman Richard Mcgraw.
Bureau Report